Judaism - Torah, Talmud, Mysticism

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In other eras, as in modern times, concentration on the latter has been considered a decisive criterion, so that philosophers who are Jewish but unconcerned with Judaism or the Jewish heritage and destiny in their thought are not ordinarily classified as Jewish philosophers. 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border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism">Judaism</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/topic/Judaism">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref35164"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35164">The history of Judaism</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35165"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35165">General observations</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35166"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35166">Nature and characteristics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35167"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism#ref35167">Periodization</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35168"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce">Biblical Judaism (20th–4th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35169"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35169">The ancient Middle Eastern setting</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35170"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35170">The pre-Mosaic period: the religion of the patriarchs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35171" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35171">The Mosaic period: foundations of the Israelite religion</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35172"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Biblical-Judaism-20th-4th-century-bce#ref35172">The Egyptian sojourn</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35173"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion">Mosaic religion</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35174"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35174">The period of the conquest and settlement of Canaan</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35175" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35175">The period of the united monarchy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35176"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Mosaic-religion#ref35176">The religious and political problem</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35177"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Davidic-monarchy">The Davidic monarchy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35178"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Davidic-monarchy#ref35178">The period of the divided kingdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35179" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform">The period of classical prophecy and cult reform</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35180"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35180">The emergence of the literary prophets</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35181"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35181">Prophecy in the southern kingdom</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35182"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-period-of-classical-prophecy-and-cult-reform#ref35182">Reforms in the southern kingdom</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35183"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Babylonian-Exile">The Babylonian Exile</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35184"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Babylonian-Exile#ref35184">The period of the restoration</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35185"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce">Hellenistic Judaism (4th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–2nd century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35186" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35186">The Greek period (332–63 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35187"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35187">Hellenism and Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35188"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce#ref35188">Social, political, and religious divisions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35189"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues">Religious rites and customs in Palestine: the Temple and the synagogues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35190"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35190">Religious and cultural life in the Diaspora</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35191"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35191">Egyptian Jewish literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35192"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-rites-and-customs-in-Palestine-the-Temple-and-the-synagogues#ref35192">Palestinian literature</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35193" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce">The Roman period (63 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–135 <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35194"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35194">New parties and sects</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35195"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35195">Origin of Christianity: the early Christians and the Jewish community</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35196"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Roman-period-63-bce-135-ce#ref35196">Judaism under Roman rule</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35197"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century">Rabbinic Judaism (2nd–18th century)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35198" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35198">The age of the <em>tannaim</em> (135–c. 200)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35199"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35199">The role of the rabbis</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35200"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35200">The making of the Mishna</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35201" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35201">The age of the <em>amoraim</em>: the making of the Talmuds (3rd–6th century)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35202"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Rabbinic-Judaism-2nd-18th-century#ref35202">Palestine (c. 220–c. 400)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35203"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650">Babylonia (200–650)</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35204" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35204">The age of the <em>geonim</em> (c. 640–1038)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35205"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35205">Triumph of the Babylonian rabbinate</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35206"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35206">Anti-rabbinic reactions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35207"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Babylonia-200-650#ref35207">The gaonate of Saʿadia ben Joseph</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35208" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750">Medieval European Judaism (950–1750)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35209"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35209">The two major branches</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35210"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35210">Sephardic developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35211"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Medieval-European-Judaism-950-1750#ref35211">Ashkenazic developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260811"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Marginalization-and-expulsion">Marginalization and expulsion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35212"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Marginalization-and-expulsion#ref35212">Conflicts and new movements</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35213"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present">Modern Judaism (c. 1750 to the present)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35214"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35214">The new situation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35215" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35215">The Haskala, or Enlightenment</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35216"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35216">In central Europe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35217"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Judaism-c-1750-to-the-present#ref35217">In eastern Europe</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35218"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements">Religious reform movements</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35219" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35219">Orthodox developments</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35220"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35220">In western and central Europe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35221"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35221">In eastern Europe</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35222"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Religious-reform-movements#ref35222">Developments in scholarship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35223"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations">Jewish-Christian relations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35224"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35224">Zionism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35225"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35225">American Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35226"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35226">Judaism in other lands</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35227"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-Christian-relations#ref35227">Contemporary Judaism</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref35228"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition">The Judaic tradition</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35229"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35229">The literature of Judaism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35230"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35230">General considerations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35231" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35231">Sources and scope of the Torah</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35232"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35232">Prophecy and religious experience</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35233"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition#ref35233">Modern views of Torah</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35234"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines">Basic beliefs and doctrines</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35235" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35235">God</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35236"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35236">Unity and uniqueness</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35237"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35237">Creativity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35238"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35238">Activity in the world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35239"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35239">Otherness and nearness</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35240"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines#ref35240">Modern views of God</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35241" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people">Israel (the Jewish people)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35242"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35242">Choice and covenant</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35243"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35243">Israel and the nations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35244"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35244">The people and the land</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35245"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Israel-the-Jewish-people#ref35245">Modern views of the people Israel</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35246" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity">Humanity</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35247"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35247">The image of God</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35248"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35248">The earthly-spiritual creature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35249"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35249">The ethically bound creature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35250"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanity#ref35250">Medieval and modern views of man</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35251" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society">Ethics and society</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35252"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35252">The ethical emphasis of Judaism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35253"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35253">Interpenetration of communal and individual ethics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35254"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35254">The key moral virtues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35255"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35255">The relation to non-Jewish communities and cultures</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35256"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35256">The formulation of Jewish ethical doctrines</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35257" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35257">The universe</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35258"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ethics-and-society#ref35258">Creation and Providence: God’s world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35259"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe">Humanity’s place in the universe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35260"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35260">Intermediary beings: angels and demons</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35261" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35261">Eschatology</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35262"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35262">The future age of humankind and the world</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35263"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35263">The king-messiah and his reign</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35264"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Humanitys-place-in-the-universe#ref35264">Secularization of messianism</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35265"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions">Basic practices and institutions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35266"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35266">The hallowing of everyday existence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35267"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35267">The traditional pattern of individual and familial practices</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35268"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35268">The traditional pattern of synagogue practices</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35269"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Basic-practices-and-institutions#ref35269">Ceremonies marking the individual life cycles</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35270"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem">Holy places: the land of Israel and Jerusalem</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35271"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35271">The sacred language: Hebrew and the vernacular tongues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35272" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35272">The rabbinate</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35273"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35273">Legal, judicial, and congregational roles</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35274"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35274">Chief rabbinates</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35275"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35275">General councils or conferences</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35276"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Holy-places-the-land-of-Israel-and-Jerusalem#ref35276">Modern variations</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref260812"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year">The Jewish religious year</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260813"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260813">The cycle of the religious year</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260814" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260814">The Jewish calendar</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260815"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260815">Lunisolar structure</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260816"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260816">Months and notable days</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260817"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Jewish-religious-year#ref260817">Origin and development</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260818" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath">The Sabbath</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260819"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260819">Importance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260820"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260820">Observances</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260821" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260821">The Jewish holidays</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260822"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Sabbath#ref260822">Pilgrim Festivals</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260823"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence">Ten Days of Penitence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260824"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260824">Minor festivals: Hanukkah and Purim</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260825"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260825">The five fasts</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref260826"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260826">The lesser holidays</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref260827"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Ten-Days-of-Penitence#ref260827">The situation today</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35277"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography">Art and iconography</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35278"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35278">The anti-iconic principle and its modifications</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35279"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35279">Ceremonial objects and symbols</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35280"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35280">Architecture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35281"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35281">Paintings and illustrations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35282"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35282">Music</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35283"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Art-and-iconography#ref35283">Literature</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35284"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy">Jewish philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35285" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35285">Pre-Hellenistic and Hellenistic thought</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35286"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35286">Bible and Apocrypha</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35287"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35287">Philo Judaeus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35288"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35288">Other ancient sources</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35289" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35289">Medieval philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35290"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35290">Jewish <em>kalām</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35291"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35291">Saʿadia ben Joseph</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35292"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35292">The Karaites</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35293"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35293">Jewish Neoplatonism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35294"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-philosophy#ref35294">Isaac Israeli</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35295"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol">Solomon ibn Gabirol</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35296"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35296">Judah ha-Levi</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35297"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35297">Other Jewish thinkers, c. 1050–c. 1150</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35298"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35298">Jewish Aristotelianism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35299"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Solomon-ibn-Gabirol#ref35299">Abraham ibn Daud</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35300"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides">Maimonides</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35301"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides#ref35301">Averroists</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35302"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Maimonides#ref35302">Gersonides</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35303"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas">Ḥasdai Crescas</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35304"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35304">Joseph Albo</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35305" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35305">Modern philosophy</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35306"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35306">The Iberian-Dutch philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35307"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Hasdai-Crescas#ref35307">Uriel Acosta</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35308"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza">Benedict de Spinoza</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35309"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35309">German philosophers</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35310"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35310">Moses Mendelssohn</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35311"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Benedict-de-Spinoza#ref35311">Solomon Formstecher</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35312"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch">Samuel Hirsch</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35313"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35313">Nachman Krochmal</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35314"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35314">Solomon Steinheim</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35315"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35315">Hermann Cohen</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35316"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35316">Franz Rosenzweig</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35317"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref35317">Martin Buber</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref260828"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Samuel-Hirsch#ref260828">Emmanuel Lévinas</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35318"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism">Jewish mysticism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35319" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35319">Nature and characteristics</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35320"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35320">The Judaic context</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35321"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35321">Three types of Jewish mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35322" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35322">Main lines of development</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35323"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Jewish-mysticism#ref35323">Early stages to the 6th century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35324"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira"><em>Sefer yetzira</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35325"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35325">The Arabic-Islamic influence (7th–13th century)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35326"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35326">The making of Kabbala (c. 1150–1250)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35327"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35327"><em>Sefer ha-bahir</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35328"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35328">School of Isaac the Blind</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35329"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Sefer-yetzira#ref35329">The 10 <em>sefirot</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35330"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia">School of Gerona (Catalonia)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35331"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35331"><em>Sefer ha-temuna</em></a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35332"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35332">Medieval German (Ashkenazic) Hasidism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35333"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/School-of-Gerona-Catalonia#ref35333">The making of the <em>Zohar</em> (c. 1260–1492)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35334"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala">The Lurianic Kabbala</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35335"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala#ref35335">Shabbetaianism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35336"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-Lurianic-Kabbala#ref35336">Modern Hasidism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35337"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism">Modern Jewish mysticism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35338"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35338">Jewish myth and legend</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35339"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35339">Significance and characteristics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35340" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35340">Sources and development</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35341"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Modern-Jewish-mysticism#ref35341">Myth and legend in the Bible</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35342"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths">Myths</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35343"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35343">Legends and other tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35344"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35344">Contemporary interpretations</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35345"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myths#ref35345">Myth and legend in the Persian period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35346"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period">Myth and legend in the Hellenistic period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35347"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35347">Historiated Bibles and legendary histories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35348"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35348">Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35349"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35349">Myth and legend in the Talmud and Midrash</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35350"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35350">Midrash and Haggada</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35351"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35351">Fables and animal stories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35352"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-Hellenistic-period#ref35352">Contribution of Haggada to Christian and Islamic legends</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35353"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period">Myth and legend in the medieval period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35354"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35354">Jewish contributions to diffusion of folktales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35355"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35355">Hebrew versions of medieval romances</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35356"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35356">Jewish contributions to Christian and Islamic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35357"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35357">Major medieval Hebrew collections</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35358"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-medieval-period#ref35358">Medieval legendary histories and Haggadic compendiums</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35360"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period">Myth and legend in the modern period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35361"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35361">Kabbalistic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35362"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35362">Judeo-German (Yiddish) tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35363"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35363">Judeo-Persian and Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35364"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35364">Hasidic tales</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35365"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35365">Droll stories</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref35366"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Myth-and-legend-in-the-modern-period#ref35366">Modern Israeli folktales</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref35367"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective">Judaism in world perspective</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35368" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35368">Relation with non-Judaic religions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35369"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35369">Exclusivist and universalist emphases</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35370"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35370">Relation to Christianity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35371"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35371">Relation to Islam</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35372"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/Judaism-in-world-perspective#ref35372">Relations with other religions</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref35373" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization">The role of Judaism in Western culture and civilization</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35374"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35374">Its historic role</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35375"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35375">Its present role</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref35376"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/topic/Judaism/The-role-of-Judaism-in-Western-culture-and-civilization#ref35376">Future prospects</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Judaism">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a 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Editor and translator of <i>Bava metzia.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Haim Zalman Dimitrovsky</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Moshe-Greenberg/1147" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Moshe Greenberg</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor of Bible, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Author of <em>The Hab/piru </em>and others; editor and translator of <em>The Religion of Israel </em>by Yehezkel Kaufmann.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Moshe Greenberg</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-27T00:00:00CST" >Nov 27, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Saint-Paul-the-Apostle" topicid="447019">St. Paul the Apostle</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Martin-Buber-German-religious-philosopher" topicid="82688">Martin Buber</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Philo-Judaeus" topicid="456612">Philo Judaeus</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Jeremiah-Hebrew-prophet" topicid="302676">Jeremiah</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Ezra-Hebrew-religious-leader" topicid="199520">Ezra</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Jewish-religious-year" topicid="303554">Jewish religious year</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Zionism" topicid="657475">Zionism</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/klezmer-music" topicid="1379883">klezmer music</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Reform-Judaism" topicid="495370">Reform Judaism</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Haskala" topicid="256614">Haskala</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Judaism"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-830938" rel="nofollow">'Jews kill babies': Chabad facilities in Melbourne targeted by vandalism</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 26, 2024, 7:44 PM ET (Jerusalem Post) <button class="btn btn-link d-inline p-0 font-12 js-toggle-recent-news"> <span class="text-gray-500">...</span><span>(Show more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/307197/52b74577982b34ce2607b693bd51cae7" rel="nofollow">Texas education board approves optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 22, 2024, 5:39 PM ET (AP) </span> </div> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="2" id="ref35284">  <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The term <em>Jewish philosophy</em> refers to various kinds of reflection engaged in by persons identified as Jews. At times, as in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Middle-Ages" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Middle Ages</a>, this meant any methodical and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disciplined" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciplined" data-type="MW">disciplined</a> thought pursued by Jews, whether on general philosophical subjects or on specifically Judaic themes. In other eras, as in modern times, concentration on the latter has been considered a decisive <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="criterion" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criterion" data-type="MW">criterion</a>, so that philosophers who are Jewish but unconcerned with Judaism or the Jewish heritage and destiny in their thought are not ordinarily classified as Jewish philosophers.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="3" id="ref35285"> <h2 class="h3">Pre-Hellenistic and Hellenistic thought</h2> <section data-level="4" id="ref35286"> <h2 class="h4">Bible and Apocrypha</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Philosophy</a> arose in Judaism under Greek influence; however, a kind of philosophical approach may be discerned in early Jewish religious works apparently subject to little or no Greek influence. The books of <span id="ref299524"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Book-of-Job" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Job</a> and <span id="ref299525"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ecclesiastes-Old-Testament" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ecclesiastes</a> (Hebrew: <em>Qohelet</em>) were favourite works of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="medieval" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval" data-type="MW">medieval</a> philosophers, who took them as philosophical discussions not dependent on historical <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/revelation" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">revelation</a>. <span id="ref299526"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Proverbs" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">The book of Proverbs</a> introduces, in an apparently theological <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="context" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context" data-type="MW">context</a>, the concept of <span id="ref299527"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wisdom-religion" class="md-crosslink ">Wisdom</a> (Ḥokhma), which was to have a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="primordial" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/primordial" data-type="MW">primordial</a> significance for Jewish thought, and presents it as the first and favourite of God’s creations. It is also praised, in the book of the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach (<span id="ref299528"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ecclesiasticus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ecclesiasticus</a>), as instilled by God into all his works and granted in abundance to those he loves. It is sometimes equated with fearing God and keeping the Law. In other passages, however, piety seems to be regarded as superior to Wisdom. The <span id="ref299529"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wisdom-of-Solomon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Wisdom of Solomon</a>, probably originally written in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greek-language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Greek</a>, praises Wisdom, which is held to be an image of God’s goodness and a reflection of the eternal light. God is said to have given the author knowledge of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="composition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composition" data-type="MW">composition</a> of the world, the powers, the elements, the nature of animals, the divisions of time, and the positions of the stars. In its vocabulary and perhaps in some of its doctrines, the work shows the influence of <span id="ref299530"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greek-philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Greek philosophy</a>. It also has had considerable influence on Christian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/theology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">theology</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref35287"> <h2 class="h4"><span id="ref299531"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Philo Judaeus</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="185244" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/49/172049-050-BDE205D2/Philo-Judaeus.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/307197/185244"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/49/172049-050-BDE205D2/Philo-Judaeus.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/49/172049-050-BDE205D2/Philo-Judaeus.jpg?w=300" alt="Philo Judaeus" data-width="1306" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/49/172049-050-BDE205D2/Philo-Judaeus.jpg" data-href="/media/1/307197/185244">Philo Judaeus</a><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">The first systematic attempt to apply Greek philosophical concepts to Jewish doctrines was made by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Philo Judaeus</a> (Philo of Alexandria) in the 1st century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>. Philo was influenced by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Platonism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Platonic</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stoicism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Stoic</a> writings and probably also by certain postbiblical Jewish beliefs and speculations. He apparently had some knowledge of the <span id="ref299534"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oral-law" class="md-crosslink ">Oral Law</a>, which was developing in his time, and he also knew of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Essene" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Essenes</a>, whom he praised highly.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Philo provided Jewish religious doctrines with <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intellectual" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectual" data-type="MW">intellectual</a> and cultural respectability by stating them in Greek philosophical terms. He also showed that much of Greek philosophy was consonant with Judaism as he conceived it and with the allegorical sense of biblical texts as he read them. The fact that he stressed the primacy of Jewish religious tradition over Greek philosophy may have been more than mere lip service. It may be argued that—in central points of his thought, such as his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conception" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conception" data-type="MW">conception</a> of <span id="ref299532"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/logos" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Logos</a> (the Divine Reason or Word)—Philo used philosophical notions as expressions of religious beliefs. For him, Logos is primarily an intermediary between a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="transcendent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transcendent" data-type="MW">transcendent</a>, unknowable God and the world. On basic philosophical and theological problems, such as the creation of the world or the existence of <span id="ref299578"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/free-will" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">free will</a> (<em>see also</em> <span id="ref299548"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/determinism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">determinism</a>), Philo’s writings provide vague or contradictory answers. He placed mystic ecstasy, of which he may have had personal experience, above philosophical and theological speculations.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Philo’s approach, his method of interpretation, his way of thinking, as well as some of his ideas—especially that of Logos—exerted considerable influence on early Christian thought but not, to any comparable extent, on Jewish thought in the same period. In the Middle Ages, knowledge of Philo among Jews was either very slight or nonexistent. Not until modern times was his importance in the history of Jewish religious thought recognized.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref35288"> <h2 class="h4">Other ancient sources</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Some traces of ancient philosophy, mainly <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Stoic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Stoic" data-type="MW">Stoic</a>, may be found in the <span id="ref299533"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mishna" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mishna</a> and in the subsequent <span id="ref299535"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Talmud" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Talmudic</a> literature compiled in Palestine and Babylonia. Jewish theological and cosmological speculations occur in the <span id="ref299536"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Midrash" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Midrashim</a> (plural of Midrash), which propound <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="allegories" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allegories" data-type="MW">allegories</a>, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="legends" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legends" data-type="MW">legends</a>, and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="myths" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myths" data-type="MW">myths</a> under the guise of interpreting biblical verses, and in the <span id="ref299537"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sefer-Yetzira" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Sefer yetzira</em></a> (“Book of Creation”), a combination of cosmogony and grammar that was once attributed to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Abraham</a>. There is no clear evidence of the period in which the <em>Sefer yetzira</em> was written; both the 3rd century and the 6th or 7th century have been suggested. The book became a key work in later Jewish <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mysticism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">mysticism</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref35289"> <h2 class="h3">Medieval philosophy</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In the 9th and 10th centuries, after a long <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hiatus" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hiatus" data-type="MW">hiatus</a>, systematic philosophy and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ideology" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideology" data-type="MW">ideology</a> reappeared among the Jews, a phenomenon indicative of their contacts with <span id="ref299538"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islamic-world" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Islamic</a> civilization. The evolution of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Islam</a> in the 9th and 10th centuries showed that Greek scientific and philosophical lore could be separated, at least to some extent, from its pagan associations and could be adapted to another language and another <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="culture" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture" data-type="MW">culture</a>. It also showed that a monotheistic, prophetic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">religion</a> that in all relevant essentials, including <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="adherence" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adherence" data-type="MW">adherence</a> to a basic religious law, was closely akin to Judaism could be the basis of a culture in which science, philosophy, and theology were an indispensable part. The question of whether philosophy is compatible with religious law (the answer sometimes being negative) <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituted" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituted" data-type="MW">constituted</a> the main theme of the foremost medieval Jewish thinkers. From approximately the 9th to the 13th century, Jewish thought participated in the evolution of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islamic-philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Islamic philosophy</a> and theology and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="manifested" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifested" data-type="MW">manifested</a> only in a limited sense a specifically Jewish character. Jewish philosophers showed no particular preference for philosophical texts written by Jewish authors over those composed by Muslims, and in many cases the significant works of Jewish thinkers constituted a reply or a reaction to the ideas of Islamic philosophical and scientific writings.</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="4" id="ref35290"> <h2 class="h4">Jewish <em><span id="ref299539"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/kalam-Islam" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">kalām</a></em></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Although several Jewish <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intellectuals" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectuals" data-type="MW">intellectuals</a> in 9th- and 10th-century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Babylonia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Babylonia</a> were steeped in Greek philosophy, the most productive and influential Jewish thinkers of this period represented a very different tendency, that of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mutazilah" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Muʿtazilite</a> <em>kalām</em>. <em>Kalām</em> (literally “speech”) is an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arabic-language" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Arabic</a> term used in both Islamic and Jewish vocabulary to designate several theological schools that were ostensibly opposed to Greek, and particularly Aristotelian, philosophy. Islamic and Jewish Aristotelians regarded <em>kalām</em> theologians (called the <em><span id="ref299541"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/mutakallimun" class="md-crosslink ">mutakallimūn</a></em>) with a certain <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="contempt" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contempt" data-type="MW">contempt</a>, holding them to be mere apologists and indifferent to the philosophical question of truth. Herein they did not do <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="justice" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice" data-type="MW">justice</a> to their adversaries, for many representatives of <em>kalām</em> displayed a genuine speculative impulse. The school’s theology, forged in disputes with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zoroastrianism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Zoroastrians</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Manichaeism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Manichaeans</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Christians</a>, claimed to be based on reason.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="5" id="ref35291"> <h2 class="h5"><span id="ref299542"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saadia-ben-Joseph" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Saʿadia ben Joseph</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The belief in reason, as well as some of the tenets of Muʿtazilite theology, were taken over by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saadia-ben-Joseph" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Saʿadia ben Joseph</a> (882–942), who was also influenced (either directly or through the intermediary of an Arabic philosopher) by <span id="ref299543"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Philoponus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">John Philoponus</a> (6th century), a Christian philosopher who argued against certain Aristotelian and Neoplatonic positions. Saʿadia’s main theological work, <em>Kitāb al-amānāt wa al-iʿtiqādāt</em> (<em><span id="ref299544"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Book-of-Beliefs-and-Opinions" class="md-crosslink ">Beliefs and Opinions</a></em>), is modeled on similar Muʿtazilite <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="treatises" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treatises" data-type="MW">treatises</a> and on the Muʿtazilite classification of theological subject matter known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pancasila" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Five Principles</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Like many Muʿtazilite authors, Saʿadia set forth in his introduction a list and theory of the various sources of knowledge. He distinguished four sources: (1) the five senses, (2) the intellect, or reason, (3) necessary <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="inferences" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inferences" data-type="MW">inferences</a>, and (4) reliable information given by trustworthy persons. In Saʿadia’s sense of the word, intellect, or reason (<em>al-ʿaql</em>), is an immediate, a priori cognition, independent of sense experience. In <em>Beliefs and Opinions</em> the intellect is characterized as having immediate <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ethical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethical" data-type="MW">ethical</a> cognitions—that is, as discerning what is good and what is evil—in opposition to the medieval Aristotelians, who did not regard even the most general ethical rules as knowable a priori. The third source of knowledge <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="comprises" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comprises" data-type="MW">comprises</a> inferences of the type “if there is smoke, there is fire,” which are based on data furnished by the first two sources of knowledge. The fourth source of knowledge is meant to validate the teachings of Scripture and of the religious tradition, which must be regarded as true because of the trustworthiness of the men who propounded them. One of the work’s main purposes was to show that the knowledge deriving from the fourth source concords with that discovered by means of the other three—i.e., that religion and human reason agree.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Saʿadia opposed <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Aristotle</a>’s view that the natural order was eternal. He held, with other <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="partisans" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/partisans" data-type="EB">partisans</a> of the Muʿtazilite <em>kalām</em>, that the demonstration of the temporal creation of the world must precede and pave the way for the proof of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/existence-of-God" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">existence of God</a> the Creator. Given the demonstrated truth that the world has a beginning in time, it can be proved that it could have been produced only through the action of a creator. It can further be proved that there must have been only one creator.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The theology of Saʿadia, like that of the Muʿtazilites, hinges on two principles: the unity of God and the principle of justice. The latter takes issue with the view (widespread in Islam and present also in Judaism) that the definition of what is just and what is good depends solely on God’s will, to which none of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="moral" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral" data-type="MW">moral</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="criteria" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criteria" data-type="MW">criteria</a> found among human beings are applicable. According to this view, a revelation from God can convert an action generally recognized as evil into a good action. Against this way of thinking, Saʿadia and the Muʿtazilites believed that being good and just or being evil and unjust are <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intrinsic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intrinsic" data-type="MW">intrinsic</a> characteristics of human actions and cannot be changed by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">divine</a> decree. The notions of justice and of good, as conceived by humans, are binding even on God himself. Indeed, the ethical cognitions of humans are the same as those of the Deity.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Saʿadia also addressed the issue of the function of religious law. Of central importance in traditional Judaism and Islam, the law was thought to have been established to compel humans to perform good actions and avoid bad ones. Because Saʿadia believed that humans have <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/a-priori-knowledge" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">a priori knowledge</a> of good and evil and that this knowledge coincides with the principles <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="underlying" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/underlying" data-type="EB">underlying</a> the most important portions of the revealed law, he was forced to ask whether this law is not superfluous. He could, however, point out that, whereas the human intellect recognizes that certain actions—for instance, murder or theft—are evil, it cannot by itself discover the best definition of what <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constitutes" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constitutes" data-type="MW">constitutes</a> a particular transgression; nor can it, on its own, determine an appropriate punishment. On both points, Saʿadia asserted, the commandments of religious law give the best possible answers.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Saʿadia called the commandments that accord with the behests of the human intellect the intellectual, or rational, commandments. According to him, they include the duty of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="manifesting" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifesting" data-type="MW">manifesting</a> gratitude to the Creator for the benefits he has bestowed upon humans. Saʿadia recognized that a considerable number of commandments—for instance, those dealing with the prohibition of work on the Sabbath—do not belong to this category. He held, however, that the obligation to obey them can be derived from the rational commandment that humans must be grateful to God, for such gratitude entails obedience to his orders.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="5" id="ref35292"> <h2 class="h5">The <span id="ref299545"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Karaism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Karaites</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Saʿadia’s adoption of the rational Muʿtazilite theology was a part of his overall effort to consolidate rabbinical Judaism (based on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mishna" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mishna</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Talmud-Torah" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Talmud</a>), which was being attacked by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Karaism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Karaites</a>. This Jewish sect, founded by <span id="ref299546"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anan-ben-David" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Anan ben David</a> in the 8th century, rejected the authority of the Oral Law and the commentaries on it—that is, of the Mishna and the Talmud. In the 10th century and afterward, the Karaites accepted as their guides the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hebrew-Bible" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hebrew Bible</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/reason" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">human reason</a>, in the Muʿtazilite sense of the word. Their repudiation of postbiblical Jewish religious tradition <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="facilitated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facilitated" data-type="MW">facilitated</a> a rational approach to theological doctrine. This approach led Karaite authors to criticize the adherents of rabbinical Judaism for holding <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="anthropomorphic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anthropomorphic" data-type="MW">anthropomorphic</a> beliefs based in part on texts of the Talmudic period. Karaite authors propounded, in <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conceptual" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptual" data-type="MW">conceptual</a> terms, a theology of Jewish history in exile (<em><span id="ref928207"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Diaspora-Judaism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">galut</a></em>). Life in exile is a diminished existence; nevertheless, the good or bad actions of the Jewish people (rather than their material strength or weakness) affect the course of history. Redemption may come when all Jews are converted to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Karaism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Karaism</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The Karaites adopted Muʿtazilite <em>kalām</em> wholesale, including its <span id="ref299547"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/atomism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">atomism</a>. The Muʿtazilite atomists held that everything that exists consists of minute, discrete parts. This applies not only to bodies but also to space, time, motion, and the “accidents”—that is, qualities, such as colour—which the Islamic and Jewish atomists regarded as being joined to the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="corporeal" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/corporeal" data-type="EB">corporeal</a> atoms but not determined by them, as had been believed by the Greek <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/atomism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">atomists</a>. An instant of time or a unit of motion does not continue the preceding instant or unit. All apparent processes are discontinuous, and there are causal connections between their successive units of change. The fact that cotton put into fire generally burns does not mean that fire is a cause of burning; rather, it may be explained as a “habit” that has no character of necessity. God’s free will is the only agent of everything that occurs, with the exception of one category—human actions. These are causes that produce effects; for instance, one who throws a stone at someone else, who is then killed, directly brings about the latter’s death. This inconsistency on the part of the theologians was required by the principle of justice, for it would be unjust to punish someone for a murder that was a result not of this person’s action but of God’s. This <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="grudging" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/grudging" data-type="EB">grudging</a> admission that causality exists in certain strictly defined and circumscribed cases was occasioned by moral, not physical, considerations.</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref35293"> <h2 class="h4">Jewish <span id="ref299549"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neoplatonism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Neoplatonism</a></h2> <section data-level="5" id="ref35294"> <h2 class="h5">Isaac Israeli</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD17 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Outside Babylonia, philosophical studies were pursued by Jews in the 9th and 10th centuries in Egypt and in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Maghreb" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Maghrib</a> (northwest Africa), most notably by <span id="ref299550"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-ben-Solomon-Israeli" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Isaac ben Solomon Israeli</a> (832/855–932/955), an Egyptian-born North African who has been called “the first Jewish Neoplatonist.” In his philosophical works, such as the <em>Kitab al-ustuqusat</em> (“Book of Elements”) and the <em>Kitab al-hudud</em> (“Book of Definitions”), Israeli drew largely upon a 9th-century Muslim popularizer of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Greek-philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Greek philosophy</a>, <span id="ref299551"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Kindi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abū ğūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Kindī</a>, and also, in all probability, upon a lost pseudo-Aristotelian text. The peculiar form of Neoplatonic doctrine that seems to have been set forth in this text had, directly and indirectly, a considerable influence on medieval <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jewish-philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Jewish philosophy</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD17 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD18 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">According to Israeli, God creates through his will and power. The two things that were created first were form, identified with wisdom, and matter, which is designated as the genus of genera (the classes of things) and which is the substratum of everything, not only of bodies but also of incorporeal substances. This conception of matter apparently was derived from the Greek Neoplatonists <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plotinus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Plotinus</a> (205–270) and <span id="ref299552"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Proclus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Proclus</a> (c. 410–485), particularly from the latter. In Proclus’s opinion, generality was one of the main criteria for determining the ontological priority of an entity (its place in the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hierarchy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hierarchy" data-type="MW">hierarchy</a> of being). Matter, because of its indeterminacy, obviously has a high degree of generality; consequently, it figures among the entities having ontological priority. According to the Neoplatonic view, which Israeli seems to have adopted, the conjunction of matter and form gives rise to the intellect. A light sent forth from the intellect produces the rational <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/soul-religion-and-philosophy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">soul</a>, which in turn gives rise to the vegetative soul.</p><span class="marker MOD18 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD19 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Israeli was perhaps the first Jewish philosopher to attribute prophecy to the influence of the intellect on the faculty of imagination. According to Israeli, this faculty receives from the intellect spiritual forms that are intermediate between corporeality and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/spirituality" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">spirituality</a>. This explanation implies that these forms, “with which the prophets armed themselves,” are <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="inferior" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/inferior" data-type="EB">inferior</a> to purely intellectual cognitions.</p><span class="marker MOD19 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section></section></section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":29,"pagesTotal":45,"pageId":307197,"pageLength":2605,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":29,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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